Competition between SMES and flywheels

The benefits of flywheel energy storage using high-temperature superconducting bearings is compared to that of SMES for the same applications. Flywheels cover the same range of energy storage times as SMES but their scaling relationships make them inherently more amenable to modular manufacture. In addition, the magnetic fields seen by the environment are considerably reduced for flywheels

Optimization of high-temperature superconductor current leads

Methods to improve the performance of high-temperature superconducting current leads are analyzed. Designs are considered that are inherently safe from burnup, even if the lead enters the normal state. The effect of a tapered lead that takes advantage of the increase in critical current density with decreasing temperature will decrease helium boiloff by about a factor of two for an area ratio of four. A new concept, in which Ag powder is distributed in increasing concentration from the cold end to the hot end of the lead in sintered YBCO, is shown to have comparable performance to that of leads made with Ag-alloy sheaths. Performance of the best inherently safe designs is about one order of magnitude better than that of optimized nonsuperconducting leads. BSCCO leads with Ag-alloy sheaths show improved performance for Au fractions up to about 3%, after which increases in Au fraction yield negligible performance improvement

Unified N=2 Maxwell-Einstein and Yang-Mills-Einstein Supergravity Theories in Four Dimensions

We study unified N=2 Maxwell-Einstein supergravity theories (MESGTs) and unified Yang-Mills Einstein supergravity theories (YMESGTs) in four dimensions. As their defining property, these theories admit the action of a global or local symmetry group that is (i) simple, and (ii) acts irreducibly on all the vector fields of the theory, including the ``graviphoton''. Restricting ourselves to the theories that originate from five dimensions via dimensional reduction, we find that the generic Jordan family of MESGTs with the scalar manifolds [SU(1,1)/U(1)] X [SO(2,n)/SO(2)X SO(n)] are all unified in four dimensions with the unifying global symmetry group SO(2,n). Of these theories only one can be gauged so as to obtain a unified YMESGT with the gauge group SO(2,1). Three of the four magical supergravity theories defined by simple Euclidean Jordan algebras of degree 3 are unified MESGTs in four dimensions. Two of these can furthermore be gauged so as to obtain 4D unified YMESGTs with gauge groups SO(3,2) and SO(6,2), respectively. The generic non-Jordan family and the theories whose scalar manifolds are homogeneous but not symmetric do not lead to unified MESGTs in four dimensions. The three infinite families of unified five-dimensional MESGTs defined by simple Lorentzian Jordan algebras, whose scalar manifolds are non-homogeneous, do not lead directly to unified MESGTs in four dimensions under dimensional reduction. However, since their manifolds are non-homogeneous we are not able to completely rule out the existence of symplectic sections in which these theories become unified in four dimensions.Comment: 47 pages; latex fil

Constraining Galileon inflation

In this short paper, we present constraints on the Galileon inflationary model from the CMB bispectrum. We employ a principal-component analysis of the independent degrees of freedom constrained by data and apply this to the WMAP 9-year data to constrain the free parameters of the model. A simple Bayesian comparison establishes that support for the Galileon model from bispectrum data is at best weak

Special Geometry of Euclidean Supersymmetry I: Vector Multiplets

We construct the general action for Abelian vector multiplets in rigid 4-dimensional Euclidean (instead of Minkowskian) N=2 supersymmetry, i.e., over space-times with a positive definite instead of a Lorentzian metric. The target manifolds for the scalar fields turn out to be para-complex manifolds endowed with a particular kind of special geometry, which we call affine special para-Kahler geometry. We give a precise definition and develop the mathematical theory of such manifolds. The relation to the affine special Kahler manifolds appearing in Minkowskian N=2 supersymmetry is discussed. Starting from the general 5-dimensional vector multiplet action we consider dimensional reduction over time and space in parallel, providing a dictionary between the resulting Euclidean and Minkowskian theories. Then we reanalyze supersymmetry in four dimensions and find that any (para-)holomorphic prepotential defines a supersymmetric Lagrangian, provided that we add a specific four-fermion term, which cannot be obtained by dimensional reduction. We show that the Euclidean action and supersymmetry transformations, when written in terms of para-holomorphic coordinates, take exactly the same form as their Minkowskian counterparts. The appearance of a para-complex and complex structure in the Euclidean and Minkowskian theory, respectively, is traced back to properties of the underlying R-symmetry groups. Finally, we indicate how our work will be extended to other types of multiplets and to supergravity in the future and explain the relevance of this project for the study of instantons, solitons and cosmological solutions in supergravity and M-theory.Comment: 74 page

Antibiotics limit adaptation of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus to hypoxia

Bacterial pathogens are confronted with a range of challenges at the site of infection, including exposure to antibiotic treatment and harsh physiological conditions, that can alter the fitness benefits and costs of acquiring antibiotic resistance. Here, we develop an experimental system to recapitulate resistance gene acquisition by Staphylococcus aureus and test how the subsequent evolution of the resistant bacterium is modulated by antibiotic treatment and oxygen levels, both of which are known to vary extensively at sites of infection. We show that acquiring tetracycline resistance was costly, reducing competitive growth against the isogenic strain without the resistance gene in the absence of the antibiotic, for S. aureus under hypoxic but not normoxic conditions. Treatment with tetracycline or doxycycline drove the emergence of enhanced resistance through mutations in an RluD-like protein-encoding gene and duplications of tetL, encoding the acquired tetracycline-specific efflux pump. In contrast, evolutionary adaptation by S. aureus to hypoxic conditions, which evolved in the absence of antibiotics through mutations affecting gyrB, was impeded by antibiotic treatment. Together, these data suggest that the horizontal acquisition of a new resistance mechanism is merely a starting point for the emergence of high-level resistance under antibiotic selection but that antibiotic treatment constrains pathogen adaptation to other important environmental selective forces such as hypoxia, which in turn could limit the survival of these highly resistant but poorly adapted genotypes after antibiotic treatment is ended

(Twisted) Toroidal Compactification of pp-Waves

The maximally supersymmetric type IIB pp-wave is compactified on spatial circles, with and without an auxiliary rotational twist. All spatial circles of constant radius are identified. Without the twist, an S$^1$ compactification can preserve 24, 20 or 16 supercharges. $T^2$ compactifications can preserve 20, 18 or 16 supercharges; $T^3$ compactifications can preserve 18 or 16 supercharges and higher compactifications preserve 16 supercharges. The worldsheet theory of this background is discussed. The T-dual and decompactified type IIA and M-theoretic solutions which preserve 24 supercharges are given. Some comments are made regarding the AdS parent and the CFT description.Comment: 22 pages REVTeX 4 and AMSLaTeX. v3: References and a paragraph on nine dimensional Killing spinors were added. v4: A few typos corrected and a footnote was modifie